”To perform magic is to bend the world around you after your will. While this power comes naturally for unicorns have it been sighted, on rare occasions, being performed by an earth pony or a pegasus,” I read loud for myself, my habit to trust.
The sun shone through the open window to my room, illuminated the corns of dust that danced in the gentle breeze which entered the room through the window. It brought with it the salty scent of the ocean as it gently blew around me, flipping the pages in the small book I had in front of me and breaking my concentration. I sighed and closed the small book, labeled The Beginning of Magic, and looked at the window.
I focused on the knob on the window, gripping it with my magic. I directed the power that flowed in my veins, redirected that burning chill to the top of my horn. I felt the sweat starting to break through my hide, a small trickle of it rolling down my forehead as I tried to shape the air around the knob to stabilize so I could draw it towards me. I felt how my energy slowly disappeared, and I tried to fight the strain. But it was to no use, and exhausted did I fall to the floor, unable to move at all. The gentle breeze tickled me as I looked up at the window that I had been unable to close with magic.
But the exhaustion had soon disappeared, leaving my body as it always did directly after I had tried to use magic. I hated it, unicorns was supposed to use magi. It was in our nature, it should come to us naturally to bend the world around us to our will. I could not even close a window with my magic! My cheeks heated in embarrassment, and although there where no one in the room to see me did I hide my muzzle in my hooves, shielding it from the judging rays of the sun.
Why can I not use magic like all others? How will I be able to work around this blockade? I have been here a week and still have I not received any training, only this room and this book. The thoughts spun in my head. A week, had it already been a week? I had nearly never been outside the room during that time, and I had not seen much of Sea Walker either during that time. He had told me the day we arrived in Harbour that our training would start as soon as possible. That had been before he showed me this room.
I sighed and removed my hooves from my eyes, looking over the room I had been given for my stay. It was a spacious room, a bed that was too big for me took up the space at one of the walls. A wooden desk, made of dark mahogany wood, stood flanked by two nearly empty bookcases. Four books, heavily outnumbered by scrolls, stood in the bookcases. A single, thick candle stood in a holder with a small bowl with under; wax had solidified there within after yesterday’s late reading.
I sighed. Then there were the window, still open and allowing the gentle autumn wind inside. Still open after the attempts I had done to close it with magic. I got up on my hooves, and slowly trotted over to the window, looking over the scenery below me.
I still felt unease as I watched over Harbour, the great city of the Sea Serpent tribe. That so many ponies lived at the same place was for me unimaginable. I had been housed in Sea Walkers own house the same day I had arrived at Harbour. It was a house that stood on a small hill, overlooking the city, a house that was bigger than any building I had seen before I had arrived to this city. But it was still far from the biggest house in the city. Below me was the city spreading out, as water rippling from its center, a center that was the building behind Sea Walkers house. The building was the meeting hall of the Sea Serpent council.
From my window could I see the tree stone walls that were placed around the city. The wall closest to me, the inner wall, had Sea Walker called “The Sea Serpent”, and told me that it was behind that wall that the ruling ponies of the city lived. Here stood the grandest houses, the ones that housed the members of the council and other ponies, ponies that he had called “Higher Ups”. Other than that did also the meeting hall lay inside this wall, and I was sure that a lot of other things were placed here if I just had walked outside.
But I had not, the city scared me. So many ponies in one place, so many which lived together this close to each other. And it was so big, how was I supposed to find my way around? I had not gone outside the house, nearly not even outside the room, since I had arrived here a week ago.
I carefully bit down on the rope that was connected to the window, a rope that was so that the ones without magic could close the window. Giving earth ponies, pegasi… and me a way to open and close the window, allowing or denying the outside air into the room. I slowly drew the rope towards me, and was awarded with a small clonk as the window closed shout, closing out the autumn wind. I turned away from the window, and nearly jumped out of my hide as I saw Silver Plate standing behind me. I had not heard the silvery servant enter my room and was surprised to see him.
He looked down at me, the same blank expression on his face that he had had the few times I had seen him.
“I’m sorry that I scared you, young master, but Sea Walker has requested your presence in his study,” he said with a stiff voice.
“No, you did not scare me, just surprised me that is all,” I said, trying to stop my beating heart from exiting my chest. “And why do you call me young master? Star is enough.”
“Certainly, young master,” he said not even blinking. “If you would please follow me young master?”
“I know the way, Silver, no need to lead me there. And just Star is enough.”
“I have been told to see you there, young master. Now if you please.” He raised his eyebrow questioningly.
I sighed.
“Very well, lead the way Silver.”
“Certainly, young master,” he said as he turned around.
I scowled at his back as I followed him, gently closing the door after me.
~*^*~
It did not take long before I stood in front of the heavy, dark wooden door that led to the study. Silver Plate opened up the door and looked at me.
“Now, young master, if you please. The advisor awaits you.”
“Thank you, Silver.” I said, before I passed him and walked into the study. I heard the door closing behind me as I took in the study.
The sun shone in through one of the two giant glass windows, bathing the study in bright light. The study was a larger and rather empty room. Two statues, each a representation of a sea serpent, stood directly inside the door, and on the floor was an effigy of a giant blue sea serpent surrounded by greenish waves. Around the waves stood for me unknown symbols, some of them standing alone and others formed words. A desk, made of a nearly white material that resembled wood, stood in front of one of the windows. A couple of book cases stood at one of the walls, parchments and books laying spread on it. Sea Walker stood in front of a fire place, staring into the flames that were dancing there within even though the room was warm from the autumn sun. In a corner not far from the fireplace stood a light green earth pony, not much older than me, and looked straight forward, not much differently from how Silver Plate had stood when I first had seen him. The only difference was that this earth pony had a smile on his muzzle and seemed to suppress a laughter.
Sea Walker whispered words I could not make out as I walked closer to him, the flames in the fireplace died out, died out without even leaving ember on the seemingly untouched wood that lay therein. He stood like that for a second before he raised his voice a bit.
“How have you been Star? Almost a week and I have not been able to see you, I have had too much to look over after the news that we received and what the leaders decided,” he said, his voice still low and his eyes on the now vanished flames.
“I have been fine,” I said, smiling briefly. “The scrolls you gave me have been an interesting read.”
“That is good to hear. Have you had any succeeding with your blockade?”
“No, I have not.” I said, sighing lightly as I looked away, ashamed of the thought about the window earlier.
Sea Walker turned around, smiling briefly to me.
“That is nothing to be worried about, you are here to learn your way around it, not find it directly. Your training begins now, and will continue for one year. Each morning, unless I say otherwise, will you come here and we will train until the sun stands at its highest position. After the morning training will you have the afternoon free, unless I say something else. ”
I looked surprised at him, I was not prepared for him to take up the issue directly. So I just nodded at him.
“Good, step over here.” Sea Walker instructed me. I did as I was asked, walked over to where he stood. He turned to the fireplace again, and I could hear him mumbling something. With his words came the flames back in the fireplace, licking the wood without leaving any mark. “Look into the fire, what do you see?”
I stared into the flames, my eyes following them in their strange dance. Bright blue and red flames licked the firewood without burning it.
“I see flames, dancing over the firewood. Since they aren’t burning the wood do I believe that they conjured by your magic.”
Sea Walker looked surprised at me.
“That is correct, the flames are conjured by me. It was, however, not that that was the task at hoof. Answer me Star, what is magic.”
“Magic is our ability to change the world around us by our will.” I answered, remembering what I had been reading.
“That is correct, but magic is so much more than that. The magic exists inside of us, and, as you said, do we use it to shape the world around us after our will. But how can you show your will for the magic without your imagination? How can you make your magic affect the world around you if you cannot imagine it for yourself, imagine how you want it to happen? Tell me what you see in the flames, what does your imagination see within them?”
I fixed my gaze towards the flames again, allowed my imagination running free. The flames danced without any fixed order, changing shape and speed every now and then.
“I can see a red sea serpent, dancing in blue waves. I can see a flying bird, soaring through red clouds.”
Sea Walker whispered again, words I could not make out and the flames wrinkled out, died in front of my eyes.
“Good, good. While you still have a long way to go to see beyond what your eye want you to see. Now, tell me. What do you think about Harbour?”
The change of subject surprised me, and I had to think for a second.
“It is big, bigger than I thought it could be. And a lot of ponies live at the same place, more than I thought possible.”
“The Phoenix Tribe is, and have always been, a small tribe in comparison to the rest of the tribes. The rest of the tribes have lived in cities since before the war.”
“But how do you all get food? I did not see a single field when we came into the city.”
Sea Walker looked surprised at me, before a smile split his muzzle.
“The ponies in this city do not grow their own food – instead do they trade with others. Less than a day from Harbour lies four small settlements, and around those settlements lies fields. The crops from those fields are more than enough to keep Harbour alive.”
“So a hoofful of ponies works to supply all the others? What do the ones in the city do?”
“Why do you not see for yourself?” he asked, lending in some at me. “Today’s lesson will be for you to go out and see what is happening in the city, see how the ponies here live their daily life.”
I sat down on my haunches. Me, outside in the city with all those other, for me unknown, ponies? What if I wouldn’t find my way back?
“That will not be a problem.” Sea Walker said, and I realized that I had thought loud. “Jest here will go with you and make sure that you get back here once you have learned.”
“I am?” The light green servant in the corner said with a suppressed giggle. “I mean, of course I will, advisor.” He bowed deeply but did not move from the spot.
“Good, then its settled. Star, I want you to come to me when you return from the city and let me know what you have learned. Be careful out there, it is different from what you are used to.”
I nodded slowly and could hear how Jest laughed gently behind me; although what the fun in this situation was I could not see. I turned around and eyed the earth pony.
His light green coat stood out from the wooden wall he stood against, his dark turquoise mane was well kept and shared color with his eyes. He smiled gently at me and a faint giggle escaped his muzzle, it hit me that he was almost as young as me, he could not be more than a year or two older than me.
Sea Walker had gone over to the windows and looked out over the city, leaving me more or less alone with the smiling earth pony in front of me. His smile grew even wider as he brought a hoof forward. I looked at the hoof, perplexed for a second, before I brought my own forward, gently thumping it against his. Jest laughed at this and thumped against my hoof a little bit harder, bringing forth a bump as our hooves meet. I looked at him, and returned his smile.
“I’m Jest, nice to meet ya,” he said. I jumped a little, not prepared that his voice would be as high as it was.
“I’m Star, and it is truly nice to meet you as well.”
“Shall we go then, young master?”
“Please, just Star is enough. It is bad enough that Silver Plate calls me young master.”
Jest looked perplexed for a second before his smile returned.
“Of course, as you wish. Shall we go then Star?”
I nodded and together we walked out from the study. I could swear that I felt Sea Walker’s smiling at my back.
~*^*~
“Look where you go!” The angry voice of a stallion shouted after me as he ran past me. I would have been knocked over was it not for the fast reaction of Jest. He had quickly grabbed me and forced me back from the running cart that came bouncing down the street, drawn by the gray stallion that had shouted at me.
“What was that all about?” I asked Jest, still a little shocked. We had only just walked outside the door to Sea Walkers house and I already wanted to turn back.
“I do not know how ya do where ya are from, but in Harbour are ya not meant to walk in the middle of the road, that’s for the carts and wagons. The ones who are walking without pulling anything are going at the side of the road,” he said with a smile on his lips. “He did however go awfully fast, I believe he was in a hurry with that cart. Oh look, free food!”
Without warning did he dive to the middle of the street, scooping up two apples that lay there in the middle of the road. The sudden change of subject startled me, and I took a step back from him, confused over the situation. Jest smiled at me as he brought forth his hoof and offered me one of the apples.
“Hungry?” he asked me.
I looked at the apple that was offered to me. It was nearly perfect in size, its red skin seemed to glow in the light of the sun. But still I turned down the offer, shaking my head. It had not passed a long time since I had eaten last, and I was not even hungry enough for a snack. I had barely moved my head before Jest had said something that sounded like “Then I take both, more food for me” and had swallowed both the apples without taking more than two bites in either one of them. I fell down on my haunches, surprised looking up at him as he stood there in front of me, juice from the fruit still dripping from his muzzle. How could somepony eat two apples that fast?
“Mmh, juicy,” he said as he licked the apple juice from his muzzle. He smiled at me and giggled. “What? It was gooooood apples.”
I could not help but smile at him, a laugh escaping from my muzzle. He was so different from anypony else I had met before.
“Are ya ready to go, or do you want to sit there whole day Star?” he asked me, still with a sheepish smile on his muzzle and a hoof offered to help me up.
I nodded and accepted his help, soon standing on my own legs again. It was first now that I took a look around me, looking at the unsafe street that we had entered from the safety of the house behind us.
One of the ways I knew where it went, I had travelled it one week ago when I first arrived to the city. If I was to follow that way would I get to the gate of the inner wall and then out in the rest of Harbour. I shrugged and turned around, remembering all too well the scent of ocean salt and fish that lingered in that part of the city. Go back to those streets, where the salt and fish stench were impossible to get away from, was not high on my list of things I wanted. No, my mind was on the other way. I was not entirely sure where it would lead, but I assumed it would be to the meeting hall, one of the buildings I wanted to see.
I raised my hoof, pointing towards the way I looked.
“What lies that way?” I asked Jest who had moved to stand beside me.
He followed my hoof with his eyes, but he did not answer me. Instead he kept his gaze locked at a point in the distance, and it seemed as if he’s normal smile died out. I put down my hoof again, trying to follow his gaze with my own. He looked at the end of the street, where another street crossed the street we stood on and continued to the left and right. A few ponies were trotting around, some in hurry and others taking their time in the warming autumn summer. No breeze blew here; the air that reached my room was down here blocked by the surrounding houses.
But nothing was standing where Jest eyes were locked, so I turned back to him. His eyes were still locked at the end of the street, so I poked him lightly. He jumped in surprise.
“Lays that way,” he blurted out.
“What?”
“As I said, the meeting hall lays that way.”
I looked at him, but he just smiled at me. I wondered if I had imagined that the smile had disappeared from his face, it felt as if it was a permanent part of him, in the same fashion as his cutie mark. Thinking about that, I had not seen it jet. I made a mental note to check it when I had the opportunity; I wanted to know more about this strange earth pony.
“Star?”
“Hmm?”
“Nothing, ya just… kind of did not answer me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. What did you ask?”
“Are we going, or are we just going to stay here all day?”
“Oh, yes of course.” I said, quickly looking over to the road. “I would love to see the meeting hall, would you mind showing me the way?”
“No, not at all,” he said. His smile was, and how it was possible I have no idea, even wider than it was normally. He even gave a little chuckle, finding this amusing.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, curios and a little confused.
“The advisor said that ya most likely would ask for the meeting hall.”
I still did not understand how he found that funny, but I dropped the subject with the feeling that I would not get an answer anyway.
“Shall we go then?”
“Oh, of course. Let me lead the way and let me know if ya want to see anything on the way there.”
He started to walk along the road, and I hurried up to trot beside him. The street was nearly empty, only a couple more ponies trotted here. The street was silent save for a slow, regular bang of steel against steel. No bird song sounded here, neither did the sound of the wind rustling the leaves in the tree crowns that I was used to. We trotted alongside each other, I curiously looking around at everything and he seemingly trying to resist an urge to chuckle, something that he failed horribly with.
It did not take long for us to reach the big plaza in front of the meeting hall. Ponies mingled around here, some ponies had carts besides them and for some reason yelling that they had “Fine apples” or “The most beautiful set of diamonds you would ever see”. The central point of the plaza was occupied of a big statue, depicting a unicorn mare, standing on her hind legs with a staff in front of herself. Around her hooves was an enormous sea serpent circling, frozen with its jaw open wide. Tendrils of water ran down the jaw and the staff into a pound that was planted around the statue.
But the thing that startled me the most was the pony who stood in front of the statue. It was a stallion, with a coat the blue color of a winter night sky and a teal mane flowing around him. A pair of large wings, larger than any I had ever seen before, adorned his back, carefully tucked to his sides. A long horn, gleaming bright blue in the rays of the sun, was partly hidden by his mane. He seemed to examine the statue.
“Who is he?” I asked, my eyes stuck on the stallion.
“That is Auroral Light, emissary of the alicorns.” Jest answered.
The alicorn turned around and spotted me. It felt as if shards glass pressed against my mind as he looked at me with his bright blue eyes. But I could not look away from those eyes, and as he smiled gently did his eyes lost their sharpness, and instead shared the smile that was on his muzzle. A second later was he gone, disappearing in a bright flash.
“You must be Star of the Phoenix tribe.” A soft voice said behind me, making me jump high in the air. “I have waited for the day I would meet you in person.”
I turned around and looked up at the alicorn in front of me. He was huge, a lot bigger than me, even bigger than Lion Heart. I shied away from him, backing straight into Jest. The alicorn laughed softly, a rich and warm laugh.
“I’m sorry that I scared you, it was never my intention to do so. I barely wished to speak to you,” he said, lowering his head to my level and looked over me with his bright blue eyes. “I’m Auroral Light, emissary of the Alicorn tribe. It is truly a pleasure to finally meet you, Star. I have heard so much good about you.”
“Who have talked about me?” I asked before I could think.
“The world around us talks to the one who listen.” Auroral Light smiled brightly at me. “And I listen more carefully than others.”
“How do you mean?” I asked, my mind pushing away all the things that should have been asked, like why I had never heard about another alicorn than the two goddesses or what god power he had.
“The words go between ponies, they speak with each other about things that affects their life. The meeting hall has been empty since Ocean Tamer and Sea Walker travelled to the tribe assembly. Normally would they have had assembled the day after they returned, but no call have been sent out during the week since their return. Words travelled from the merchants that had been at the tribal assembly market, and it did not take long before I had figured out why the meeting here had not been. A merchant talks a lot about the things that happen around them on their travels. Soon enough a name came up from all that talking the merchant pulled. Star, a unicorn from the Phoenix tribe, had travelled together with Ocean Tamer and Sea Walker here. A unicorn, it was said, who had spoken with a zebra and even lead her to his encampment.”
“It was Seeing Eye who led me, not I who led her,” I said. “But what was it you said about…”
“Seeing Eye?” the alicorn said, surprise clear in his voice. “Is that old herbalist still alive? I thought she died years ago.”
Auroral Light looked away, a frown on his face as if he was in deep thoughts.
“What did you say about the meeting?” I asked, wanting to know more about it.
Auroral Light moved his head to look at me again, but froze halfway, his eyes at a point behind me. His eyes widen some, and he quickly jerked his eyes away back to me.
“I’m really sorry, Star. It has been a pleasure to talk with you and I’m sure I will get the chance soon again, but I really have to go now. I have an important meeting scheduled this very moment.”
He seemed to hesitate for a moment, before he bowed slightly for me and disappeared in a new flash. I quickly spun around and found myself looking at the fountain in the middle of the square. Or, more correctly, at the two ponies that stood in front of the fountain. One of them was Auroral Light, but the other did I not recognize. Nothing strange about that, seeing that I had only been here for a week and nearly never had walked outside my room.
The other pony was a unicorn, a coat the color of a setting sun and her mane was like sunrays. She smiled lightly at me before she turned towards Auroral Light.
Crimson red blood flowed from the shallow cut in her body, a cut that should not have caused such a high blood loss. I knelt beside her, my horn flickering with the magic I tried to push through it, my body trembling as tears started to fall from my eyes, dampening her mane. I saw through tear filled eyes how the cut started to stitch together, the blood around it coagulating slowly. She brought a hoof to my face, whispering words I could not make out, smiling weakly at me with tears in her beautiful orange eyes. The cut slowly opened again, blood starting to stream out from it. I stared in disbelief at it as she coughed weakly, moving her mouth as she spoke. I looked in her eyes against as she closed her eyelids. Eyelids that I knew would never open again. I could see myself, sitting on a throne looking up in the roof, moving my lips as if I spoke. Slowly did the me on the throne look down again, looking at something around me that I could not see. Hate and anger shone in my eyes, and a ring of fire started to emerge from my horn, followed by another, and another.
I gasped as the vision left me, my mind jerked back to the reality around me. Auroral Light and the unicorn had disappeared, and I myself lay on the bricks that the square was built with. Jest stood over me, looking concerned down at me.
“Are ya feeling alright? Ya just kinda… spaced out,” he said, a smile on his muzzle even if the concern still was in his voice.
“What happened?” I asked as I lifted my head some. I could feel a dull pain in the back of my head as I did so.
“Ya just felt into a heap when ya looked at the unicorn that Auroral talked to. I was worried for a second, I was sure that ya cried as you laid there but ya did not answer me when I talked to ya,” he said with a nervous chuckle.
I jerked my head to the fountain, but neither the unicorn nor Auroral were to be seen.
“Where did they go?” I asked, my eyes still on the fountain.
“Huh?” He looked at the fountain as well. “Sorry, but I don’t know. I had my eyes on ya and not them.”
I sighed. Why was it so important all of the sudden for me to know who the unicorn was anyway?
“Nothing you should be sorry about Jest.” I said as I got back up on my hooves.
He smiled briefly at me.
“So, where do ya want to go now?” Jest asked me, his voice back to his normal cheerfulness.
“I don’t know,” I said as I looked around at the market area. “I should see how the ponies here lived their lives, but so far is the closes connection I have done with the daily life here is when I nearly became crushed by a cart.”
“Why not go and talk with somepony who is working then?”
I thought about it. It was so simple, how were you supposed to come closer to a normal day of life without checking those who worked?
“Jest, you are a genius!”
Jest laughed.
“No, I’m far from a genius. I’m just myself, as we all should be. Follow me, I know a pony ya could talk with.”
I turned to follow, wondering what was going on inside the brain of the smiling pony in front of me.
~*^*~
The loud clanging reached my ears before we took the last turn to the street that seemed to be Jest’s goal. We had walked nearly all the way to the Sea Serpent Wall, a walk I had tried to make as much use of as possible. I had kept my eyes around me, looking at the ponies living their lives around me. But I saw nothing that would help me in my study, so I dropped the observation as soon as Jest brought up a hoof, pointing on a building close to the middle of the street.
“Here it is, Smite and Anvil’s Forge.”
I looked at the house which Jest had pointed at. It was made entirely of stone, with big openings placed regularly around the top of the house. Over the door hang a wooden sign with a painting of an anvil and a hammer on it, with text under that proudly said “Smite and Anvil’s Forge”. Jest trotted to it, and I followed him as he opened the door and trotted inside.
A wave of heat stroked against me as I trotted through the door, making my coat damp by a thin layer of sweat. The loud banging I had heard from the outside, a banging that was even louder in here, emerged from the middle of the room, where a unicorn stood at an anvil. The stallion had a light brown apron around his front and a hammer was firmly placed in his mouth, gently working the red metal on the anvil in front of him with it. Various tools hanged on the walls, and the entire smith was illuminated by the red-glowing coal in the forge at the other end. The unicorn lifted his head as we entered, looking at us with a smile on his muzzle. A faint glow surrounded the metal he had worked with as it started to flow through the air to the forge in the end of the room, landing in the forge with a low thump and making a swarm of embers raising for a second before they settled again.
“Hello there, Jest, what can I help you and your friend with today? You have not destroyed anything that needs repairing again have you?” I was surprised at how calm and low his voice was.
“No, no, nothing like that Smite,” Jest said with a smile on his lips. “I’m only here to show Star the city.”
The unicorn turned his attention to me.
“Well then, you must be Star. I’m Smite, one of two owners of Smite and Anvil’s Forge. Excuse me for a moment.” he said and floated over the nearly white metal onto the anvil. I looked with fascination as he worked with the hammer on the metal, fixating it there with his magic. Each hit with the hammer brought forth a rain of sparks and a loud clang. When the metal had returned to red were it once again engulfed in a faint aura and lifted, but this time was it lifted away from the anvil and into a bucket of water. Steam rose from the bucket with a sharp hiss, the ember from the forge creating the illusion of moments within the steam. I could see a red shape of a dragon moving towards me, opening its gape wide before disappearing together with the rest of the steam.
“But why choose this place, Jest?” Smite asked, wiping his head with the apron. “I believe that there are a lot of other places that would be more fun for a colt in his age.”
“He is apprentice under Sea Walker, and got an assignment to…” Jest began, but was soon interrupted by me.
“Why did you only use magic when you held the metal down? Why not use magic with the hammer?”
Jest closed his mouth, a muted chuckle escaping his muzzle. Smite, on the other hoof, looked nearly offended at me.
“Had Anvil not been sick would I have been using my magic for no more than to heat the forge. While magic is a great tool in itself is it not one I use. My skills comes with being close to the metal, not just watching it but feeling it as well. If my magic was to do the work then I would not feel if the iron were to falter, nor would I feel when it was perfect time to let it rest. I’m sure that it exists ways to check all these things with magic, but why replace something you enjoy with something that I consider as cheating?”
I looked dumbfound at him.
“But you are a unicorn! Magic is what you are supposed to do! Why work on the level of an earth pony when you can use your magic to do more and most likely even better things with it?” The words had left my mouth before I could take them back.
One thing I quickly became happy about was the fact that looks could not do physical harm against you. If they could then I would most likely have been lying in a bloody pile on the floor from the murdering look that Smite gave me.
“So a unicorn is only a unicorn if he can use magic, is that it? Are we superior only because we can work with magic? Are we supposed to do everything better than anypony else?” he snarled at me.
I curled together, tried to make me smaller under that look. I could feel my cheeks heating in embarrassment. I had never meant it to sound like that. I could hear him sigh before he spoke again.
“We unicorns are not superior, far from. What we gain in magic do we lose in other areas. The earth ponies are superior when it comes to their endurance and strength, the pegasi are faster than us and most importantly have the ability to fly. I got my cutie mark while working with metal decades ago, and I have worked with it in the same way since. It is a tiring job, and I’m sure that I could use magic to make it easier, but it is my job. It is something I enjoy and I would not change it for every bit in the world.”
A faint glow emitted from the bucket, soon followed by the now grey metal. It floated over to the forge, a rain of sparks escaping from the ember as the metal landed around it.
“I have to return to work, I have a lot to do today seeing that Anvil is sick. Jest, would you mind take this package to Sea Walker? He requested it to be made some days ago and I just finished before you arrived here.”
“Hu?” Jest asked, taking his eyes from the dancing flames in the forge. “Yea, I guess I can do that.”
“It’s not heavy, but it is valuable. Be careful with it.” Smite said as a small package floated into view.
The package was a small wooden box, not bigger than that it would fit in my hoof. The dark wood seemed to be a solid block with carvings around it, carvings that made me dizzy as I followed them with my eyes. I slowly rose again, my eyes on the beautiful crafted box.
“What is that?” I asked without taking my eyes away from item.
“That you will have to ask Sea Walker, I followed the instructions I were given to create it, nothing more,” he answered as he floated the box over to Jest who carefully took it and hide it in his mane.
Smite turned away from us, looking at the metal in the forge.
“Remember one thing Star. None of the races are superior to the others, we all have our flaws in comparison to the other races. We will have to work together as a single race, or none of us would survive for long.”
“I-I will remember that.” I said, as I started to walk out of the smithy, Jest close behind.
I had not walked long outside before I heard the sound of metal being hammered again, a sound that followed me a long time afterwards as well.
~*^*~
The cushion was soft beneath me, the sun’s ray that shone through the window and landed on me were warm. Sea Walker sat at the other side of the small table, pouring tea into two cops from a pot he levitated. Steam rose from the cup and the sweet aroma from it filled the room, made it smell like a flower garden. The wooden box laid on the table, its carvings seemed to glow in the red rays of the setting sun. Sea Walker had sent Jest home and I was now completely alone with him in his study. A gentle breeze brought with it some cold that chilled the warm room to a more comfortable warmth.
Sea Walker whispered low to himself, even when sitting this close could I not hear the words he said, and the teapot were gently lowered down to the table and the aura around it changed position to the teacup instead. I looked blankly at my own teacup, which just stood there and spread its exquisite aroma in the room. I started to wonder how earth ponies and pegasi drank from these cups with their ridiculously small design. I decided to try my best and took the teacup between my fronthooves, gently bringing it up to my muzzle to drink.
I could not help but missing Jest at this situation. He would have been able to show me how to drink like this, and he would most likely suppress a chuckle as he did. But it worked, and even though the position I had so sit in was awkward did I manage to take a sip. The drink was warm, and I was kind of disappointed that a drink that spread such a sweet aroma could be so bitter.
Sea Walker smiled lightly at me.
“What did you learn?” he asked as he took another sip from his cup. “How are the ponies in the city living comparing to the ones in the Phoenix Tribe?”
“The ponies here seem to have some rules to follow, like where to walk in the streets. They also seemed to be in a hurry, not taking their time to talk with the ponies around them. The ones working seemed to take pride in their work.”
Sea Walker looked out one of the windows, where the setting sun painted the world in red. He sighed some as he took another sip from the cup.
“But have you understood how the families here live their lives? Have you understood how the food gets here from the farms and what the farmers get in payment?”
I looked down at the floor, ashamed.
“No, I have not come to that understanding yet.”
Sea Walker did not say anything for a while, but I could see his eyes at me.
“Star, I did not expect you to understand everything in a single day, no one would be able to do that. You have started to understand, but you still have a long way to go before perfect understanding.”
I looked up at him, and he smiled knowingly at me.
“I believe you will do your best to learn.”
“Yea, I will do my best.” I promised as I took another sip on the tea. The hot liquid scaled my tongue, making me drop the cup I held in my fore hooves.
Luckily for me was Sea Walker reacting quickly.
“Stop,” he nearly shouted. At his word did the light around his own cup spread to my falling cup, stopping it dead in its fall. A few drips of hot tea fell on me, making me yelp as it burned my skin. The cups slowly drifted to the table, where they were gently placed. Sea Walker smiled briefly at me.
“You should be more careful, you could have scolded your entire body,” he said calmly.
I smiled apologizing at him.
“I’m sorry.”
“No harm done.”
Then it hit me.
“You have to speak while using magic.” It was not a question.
Sea Walker smiled at me.
“Yes, I do. And before you ask, it’s a side effect from the time I got rid of my own blockade. My magic will not work if I’m not to say for myself what I want it to do. Most unicorns do this mentally, but my mind is set to that it will not work should I not tell my magic what I want.”
“But you just said ‘Stop’ and still you could float it away from me without saying anything more.”
“Yes, and that I can thank my imagination for. I yelled stop, and my magic obeyed that it should stop the cup. That I could move the cup from where it floated was that I imagined that it had stopped at the wrong place and needed to be moved to stop where it should.”
“But… but that is not logic! Your magic did as it was told, and if it really did listen to you then it would have dissipated after it had stopped the cup, it had followed what you wanted it to do and nothing more!”
“The magic in itself is not what follows my orders, it’s my mind that do. It’s the same way that I was able to use a simple word as ‘float’ to first pour the tea in our cups and then lift my own cup to drink, with only saying ‘change’ in between. I imagined that the cup ‘floated’ at the wrong place and needed to be moved. My magic obeyed, because it followed what I thought.”
He sighed.
“My magic work like all other magic, as long as I visualize for myself and tell myself that what I’m doing have to do with my command. But as soon as my belief stagger, so does my spell. It have been like this since I got rid of my blockade.”
The surprise from dropping the cup had finally vanished from me, and been replaced with curiosity as I looked up at my mentor. I quickly changed my sitting position to a more comfortable and kept my eyes on him.
“How did it happen?”
“How did what happen?” he said with a knowing smile on his muzzle.
“How did you remove your blockade?”
He laughed as he smiled at me.
“It was during one of my lessons under an old mare named Flower that it happened. She had given me the task of caring about a flower, my reward would be to see it bloom. Weeks pasted without anything happening, and in the end was I more frustrated on it than I would like to admit. I shouted at it to grow, and I felt how the magic inside of me, that before only had been rushing through me, formed after my will and made the flower grow. It bloomed as a beautiful flower, and as soon as it was fully grown did my magic dissipate. The flower, which had nourished on my magic, faltered and died, but I had worked around my blockade. From that day could I use magic by talking and imagine my magic.”
“So all I have to do is to imagine and talk to myself?” I asked without believing myself.
“No, that is most likely not the way for you,” he said.
Even if I had not believed that it was that easy was it hard to hear those words. It felt as if my heart sank in my chest.
“Then what is?”
“That will you have to find yourself Star, I’m here to help you when I can. But what I know is that every time a unicorn have worked around a blockade have it been feelings around it. Flower had had a blockade a long time ago as well, and she overcame it when her grandfather died. She had been sitting and crying over his body, and her magic had listened to her heart’s desire, creating flowers all around the glade. She could only use magic that her heart wanted, and she rarely used magic at all.”
I smiled weakly at Sea Walker, a smile he returned.
“That sounds beautiful.” I said.
“It was. She showed me once, the day we said far well. She conjured a thousand flowers around us, each in a unique color and design. The most important thing she learned me is that who you are is not about what you cannot do but what you can. Even if you cannot do something that others can is that not by any mean an evidence about you being inferior to them, all do we have something inside of us that makes us differ from the rest.” he looked away, a tear in the corner of his eye. “I cannot look at a flower nowadays without remembering her and everything she taught me.”
I did not know what to say, so I just sat there, looking in another direction. I looked out one of the windows, the setting sun painting the horizon red.
“What do you think about Jest?”
I jumped at the sound of Sea Walker’s voice. I had not been prepared for it and my mind had been wandering.
“He is really nice, although a little bit… different. Not that that is a bad thing.” I hastily added.
Sea Walker smiled at me.
“I know what you mean, he is unique in more way than one. He is the only foal I know about whose father doesn’t know about his existence. He was born into a farming family, and has worked his way to where he is today. I found him on the street, and took him in my service less than a year ago. He told me his story, and I have since then taken care of him and been someone he can trust.”
“What story?” I asked, my curiosity awoken.
“That is something you should ask him about, it is not my thing to tell you. I should warn you thou, if he does not want to talk about it then you should not pressure him. When he trust you and want you to know he will tell you, that I know.”
I nodded once, understanding what he meant.
“Well then,” the unicorn said as he stood up. “I think it is time for us to end today’s lesson. I will await you tomorrow after sunrise; make sure to be here in time.”
“Yes Walker,” I said as I got up on my hooves, nearly flipping the table as I did so. I smiled at Sea Walker and said goodbye to him and then proceeded to leave the room.
My training had finally started, and I could not wait to learn more.